So a few of you have been pestering me to post an intro to playing slide guitar, so here goes. I am by no means a decent player, I just thought I'd share what I have picked up so far.
Tuning
Although you can play slide in standard tuning, it normally involves having to mute certain strings and all sorts of other tricksey bits, so I advise starting off on an open tuning, that way you can play all of the strings without sounding like a complete idiot ?
I use Open G in this video (D G D G B D) basically you just drop the 1st, 5th and 6th string down a tone.
Slides
The most common slides are made from either Glass, Brass, Chrome or Ceramic. I am using a Moonshine Ceramic Slide in the video. Metal slides sound a bit harsh and dirty to me, glass is warmer, but can sound a bit dull. I find that ceramic is the best of both worlds.
Action
The Tele I am playing here has been modified specifically for slide playing. I have removed the 6th string (how Keith Richards of me), raised the action quite a bit, and raised the pickup height on the treble side quite a bit. You do not NEED to raise the action, but it does make it a lot easier to avoid buzzing against the frets.
Technique
A couple of things to take note of that I didn't know when I first tried this.
Firstly, you do not use the slide to press the strings down on the fretboard like you would normally fret a note. You just lightly touch the strings from above. Just enough for the note to ring clear. In a sense the slide becomes the fret wire.
Whereas you would normally fret a note on the wood part just in front of the fret wire, with slide you hold the slide directly above the fret wire, again, imagine the slide being the fret wire. Yes you need to wiggle it back and forth a bit, but don't go too far away from that fret wire initially.
Always hold the slide perpendicular to the strings, if you have it at too much of an angle your notes will be off.
Here is the video, I know the sound, video and playing quality is pretty shoddy (particularly at the end), but so be it, I have said numerous times I do not play guitar in public!!
